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"Even though people are usually thinking that ... when we have died it is very sad, but Buddhism thinks that life and death are just the state at this present moment. ... So, according to Buddhist theory, we do not love life to live too much, we do not fear to die so much ... Therefore, when we are living, we can enjoy living. When we die, we can enjoy dying."

"Fortunately, we have the end of life, that is the entering of goal. So ... existence of death is also a very well condition."

"Sometimes foam appears on the surface of the river, and flows for awhile ... And in such situation, foam comes back to the water of the river. So, water exists but the foam has vanished. That is human life I think. Thus the water exists forever, but the foam has disappeared and does not appear again.

I have to edit this today, as I have just received word that a co-worker of mine has been told that she has 3-6 months to live, and that my daughter has Swine Flu and pneumonia (she is also an asthmatic....so this makes it a bit more serious). this video has helped me get a firmer grasp on just how fragile "life" is, and how we, as sentient beings must come to terms with impermanence. I feel confident that my daughter will be fine (she was doing well this afternoon when I spoke with her), I can only imagine the suffering that my co-worker's family must be going through. To be given that sort of news must surely test one's faith no matter what he/or she believes.

For me, death is the removal of one shell and replacing it with another. we are borrowing our physical form, and no matter what roots you have in faith, we are bound to this universe in ways that we cannot imagine.

I have just received word that a co-worker of mine has been told that she has 3-6 months to live, and that my daughter has Swine Flu and pneumonia (she is also an asthmatic....so this makes it a bit more serious).

I am sorry to hear this Tim, much metta to you, your daughter, and you co-worker.

Gassho
Shingen

RINDO SHINGEN
倫道 真現

As a trainee priest, please take any commentary by me on matters of the Dharma with a pinch of salt.

Another wonderful essay by Bro. Brad on Nishijima's death ... his last words '自分の死に時は自分で決める' (I Will Decide When It’s Time For Me To Die). Wonderful.

Also good words on how our Teacher was always a critic of big institutions and churches, the bureaucratic bastions of orthodoxy that they often become, so removed from the immediate experience open to all of us. It can come to be about paying fees and kissing the right rings, not one's dedication to Buddhism.

It recalls this famous "death-non-death scene" in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor, Hui-Neng ...

The Master [Hui-neng] said: "Come close. In the eighth month I intend to leave this world. If any of you have doubts, ask about them quickly, and I shall resolve them for you. I must bring your delusions to an end and make it possible for you to gain peace. After I have gone there will be no one to teach you."

Fa-hai and the other monks heard him to the end and wept tears of sorrow. Only Shen-hui was not impressed, nor did he weep. The Sixth Patriarch said: "Shen-hui, you are a young monk, yet you have attained the [status of awakening] in which good and not good are identical, and you are not moved by judgments of praise and blame. You others have not yet understood: what have you been practicing at this temple these several years? You're crying now, but who is there who's really worried that I don't know the place to which I'm going? If I didn't know where I was going then I wouldn't be leaving you. You're crying just because you don't know where I'm going. If you knew where I was going you wouldn't be crying. The nature itself is without birth and without destruction, without going and without coming.

The flowing river stops and yet the
water never stays the same.
Foam floats upon the pools, scattering,
re-forming, never lingering long.
So it is with man and all his dwelling
places here on earth...
The place itself does not change, nor do
the crowds.

Even so, of all the many people I once
knew only one or two remain.
They are born into dusk and die as the
day dawns, like that foam upon the water.
People die and are born...whence they
come and where they go, I do not know.

A house and its master are like the dew
that gathers on the morning glory.
Which will be the first to pass?

A photo from my Dharma Bro. Peter Rocca of the Altar for Roshi's Funeral. At the families request, it was a simple funeral in traditional Japanese style, conducted by the presiding priest in the manner for a deceased Zen Priest.

Personally, I feel that Roshi would have wanted something simple, but (as many people point out) funerals are really for the surviving family, not the fellow in the box.

Case #29 from Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo Book One

One day Master Zengen went with his teacher Master Dogo to visit a house where someone had recently died to express their condolences. When they were alone, Master Zengen patted the coffin and said to Master Dogo, “Is he alive or dead?”

Master Dogo said, “I will not say alive or dead.”

Master Zengen said, “Why won’t you say?”

Master Dogo said, “I will never say. I will never say.”

On the way back to the temple, Master Zengen said, “Master! Please give me your answer now! If you won’t I’ll hit you!”

Master Dogo said, “You can hit me if you want. I will not say.”

Master Zengen hit his teacher several times with his fist, but Master Dogo still refused to answer.

On returning to the temple, Master Dogo said, “I think it would be better for you to leave this temple. But if the Head Monk hears you are leaving it will cause trouble.”

After Master Dogo died, Master Zengen went to the temple of Master Sekiso. He told Master Sekiso about the incident and asked him for his teaching.

A question about what is visible on it if you donīt mind answering? Why were bananas offered in this particular case? Was it Roshis favorite fruit? And what does the fruit symbolize in general? Also, the two towers of what looks like toilet paper? Why toilet paper?

Hope you don't mind these silly questions in the light of the passing and funeral but I'd like to know more about these rituals and understand a bit more about the symbolism involved.

Why were bananas offered in this particular case? Was it Roshis favorite fruit? And what does the fruit symbolize in general? Also, the two towers of what looks like toilet paper? Why toilet paper?

Ah, I am glad that the sacred is the profane in our way ... because that is a pretty darn SACRED question! Toilet paper? Really?

Okay ... ah ... well ...

Anyway, on a Japanese funeral or memorial Altar, one typically places such items as incense, flowers, candles, water, and food trays with fruit, rice cakes and sweets. I do not think that bananas are native or typical to Japan, so I do not believe there is any secret Esoteric mystical meaning in that (such as an offering to the Monkey God), but probably they asked the family and bought what was fresh. Apples and oranges are more common. Fruit represents ... fruit. You know, fresh, life, food.

Notice the bowl of rice is offered with chopsticks sticking out perpendicular. Westerners in Japan may notice panicked looks from their dining hosts for stabbing their chopsticks into their dinner plate. Never do that when eating with Japanese people for this reason, as it is only done at a funeral.

The "toilet paper" is actually an offering of two kinds of Japanese sweets, called "komutsu"

The tablet at the front holds the memorial tablet, technically the "spirit tablet", based on the following traditional belief ...

Every Japanese funeral has a portrait of the deceased in a frame and a ihai (いはい) or a spirit tablet. The name of the deceased is written on the spirit tablet. In fact, the spirit of the deceased is thought to reside on the tablet. As a result, sometimes the relatives will take the spirit tablet with them and place it in a special room at home.

Actually, you made me look into if the bananas had any special significance. I must be going bananas ...

Long before Indochinese people were introduced to Hinduism and Buddhism, they were worshipers of the spirits and forces of nature. One of the necessary parts of the offerings is bananas. It was said that the sweet, flower-like aroma of the fruit is favorable by spiritual beings.

Banana tree was believed to be one of the most ghostly plants in Indochinese culture. It was said that wandering spirits liked to dwell inside it. Children were warned to stay away from banana trees once the sun began to set. Some said that children who played hide and seek near the banana trees would be snatched away by the spirits.

A Fan made of banana-leaf is one of the most popular items in Chinese mythology. It was said that this fan could put off fire and cool of a volcano. It could also summon a storm or calm the weather. Zhong Li Quan (鐘離權), one of the famous Eight Immortals of Taoism (八仙: Bāxiān), were often portrayed with a banana-leaf fan. It was said that his fan could blow off evil beings and revive the dead.

Bananas, sometimes including its leaves, are often found in the Chinese and Buddhist altars. Banana leaf was considered as one of the most precious items to scholars. It was once used as writing medium in the ancient time.

Mothers put bananas on the altars as a wish for her children’s well-doing in education. Wives do it for their husband’s brilliance in business and career.

Well, I'm getting the feeling you too my question as a bit offensive? Far from it! If so I apologize.

I used toilet paper to clarify what I was looking at. Maybe rolls of paper, as paper has many uses and symbolism. In any case, in the picture it really looks like toilet paper a bit if you look closely. Sweets make more sense, yes . Also, one would expect oranges like you said. This is why I was wondering what the meaning of the bananas could have been. Not so silly a thought after all as it turns out.

No not more information then I need. These ceremonial details and symbolism interest me very much and the choices made often tell us something about the person remembered.

I understand it is a sensitive matter but it was an honest question after carefully and respectfully examining the picture.
I think it looks tasteful, beautiful and restrained. Dignified and balanced.

Thank you everyone for this post, very informative. For me, as I am getting to know him through some of his writings and videos, Nishijima Roshi is more alive than ever. Perhaps I am slow, or perhpas I am the only one who thought to ask/ say this:

Regarding Case #29 Shobogenzo. I have read this at other times either on this message board or in other places and I have to say, not unlike Master Zengen, I have no idea what Master Dogo means when he says " I won't say, I won't say". Anyone else?

I think that most koans want to express the idea of unity. "I" does not begin nor does it end. No death, no birth. Just a wave in the sea with no beginning or end. "I" also does not talk because it has no mouth. That is my foolish understanding of this koan. But i really have no clue of its true meaning. :-)

Gassho, Jishin

"The Great Way is not difficult. It only excludes picking and choosing. Once you stop loving and hating, It will enlighten itself." - Xin Xin Ming

I think that most koans want to express the idea of unity. "I" does not begin nor does it end. No death, no birth. Just a wave in the sea with no beginning or end. "I" also does not talk because it has no mouth. That is my foolish understanding of this koan. But i really have no clue of its true meaning. :-)

Kaz Tanahashi, the great Dogen translator, said the following during the recent Sesshin he co-led with Brad at Upaya Zen Center. He was talking about Dogen's Circle of the Way, which was mentioned on a recent thread ...

Kaz said [from about 12:30 mark] ...

Each moment of Practice is a circle, complete. Complete of aspiration, enlightenment, practice, nirvana. Nirvana is for Dogen a non-dual state, In this state of meditation, differences between large and small, far and near, other and self, even life and death becomes obscure. And so one experiences non-duality. It is not that only seasoned practitioners experience non-duality, [because] we all experience non-duality. We may not notice ... we may be thinking of something else, thinking "this is a bad Zazen", this is a failure not going anywhere. But, for Dogen there is no bad Zazen. When we take the form of an Awakened One, and sit accordingly, we're all awakened. Everything is complete. That's the good news! ... [chucklng] The bad new is, we usually don't notice!" [More Chuckling]